DESIGN West: Renesas rolls 'crossover' 32-bit MCUs

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Renesas Electronics Corp. is demonstrating at the DESIGN West conference here this week the first 32-bit microcontrollers in its RX111 Group, described by the company as the first 32-bit MCUs to challenge 8- and 16-bit parts in both price and power consumption.

Peter Carbone, vice president of marketing at Renesas, said the RX111 products are the first 32-bit microcontrollers from Renesas built on a special low-power process that has previously been used only for 8- and 16-bit parts. The company defines true low power as a new benchmark for power dissipation across all modes of operation, including runtime, sleep and standby, he said. The goal is to achieve power dissipation across all nodes that is as low or lower than the current market leader, he said.

Until now, Carbone said, some customers resisted moving from 8- or 16-bit MCUs because they were more expensive and/or used more power. "Now there is no real price premium or power premium for 32-bit," Carbone said.

According to Carbone, power consumption has become an even hotter topic in recent years, with more and more customers concerned about the power usage of their products, regardless of whether they are battery-powered or plug into an outlet. Carbone said customers are worried about their products power consumption for a number of reasons—including thermal dissipation, reliability and the perception of being "green."